New Jersey Council of Administrators of Health and Physical Education
MINUTES OF THE MEETING FROM October 10, 2006
Heritage Middle School, Livingston, NJ
9:00am-12:00pm
The following members were present: Dan Brundage-Millburn, Judy LoBianco-South OrangeMaplewood, Cathleen Filippello-Bridgewater-Raritan, James McCall- NJ DOE, Linda GuerriniParsippany-Troy Hills, Alice Mokar-Perth Amboy, Joe Lacascio-NJAHPERD Executive Director,
Elaine Sienkiewicz-Woodbridge, Andy Krupa -Livingston, Linda Ionta-Union, Jodi MenschLivingston, Debra Serafin-North Brunswick, David Kirk-Monroe, Greg Beyer-Monroe, Frank
Noppenberger-East Brunswick, Dan Kilday-Wayne Valley, Ken Mason-Lawrence, Graham
Peabody-Sportswood, Sam DeMarco-Livingston, Keith Chaudruc-Livingston, Linda PurtellLivingston, Cindy Stockdale- Passaic Cty Tech., Nick Scerbo- South Brunswick, Bruce PeragalloWest Orange, Todd Slawsky-Rutgers, John Fraraccio-West New York, Maureen Weir-Wayne Hills,
Laura Groppo-Ramapo, Mary Mulligan-Montgomery.
The meeting was called to order at 9:20am. D.Brundage discussed the agenda and the
membership form. Dan asked everyone to introduced themselves and reflected on the
goals of the association as well as welcomed the new members. Dan continued that he is
looking to expand the membership by contacting districts as well as getting help via word
of mouth. He encourages members to email him with future topics and general ideas.
Jim- NJ DOE, Coordinator of Physical Education/Career and Family Life Skills.
Jim brought the hard copy of the standards as well as reminded us of the CD-ROM.
Down the road the intent is to add best practices to the information. He introduced the
HS/MS NJ Student Health Survey. The DOE Website also listed Professional
Development Offerings for all content areas. Please schedule as far in advance as
possible. Legislators are passing non-funded bills and putting pressure on school districts.
Suicide Prevention, Community Service to name a few. The legislature is once again
looking at substituting Interscholastic sports for physical education. NO resources set up
to assist districts in their role as facilitators for the suicide prevention bill. School nurse
must have licensure in this area. Schools need to develop a team. If you are providing
Professional Development for that…….go on DOE website to sign up as a provider. You
have no way of knowing how qualified a person is. Traumatic Loss Coalition is a good
contact for social/emotional health. Other part of the bill wanted the CCCS to be changed
to provide more information. Districts received memo identifying progress indicators in
NJCCCS that addresses suicide prevention under social/emotional health. Andy offered
that the County Mental Health Association. The entire staff that is held accountable for
the 100 hrs. is responsible for suicide prevention information. The steroid issue is also
covered under the standards. The last bill addressed eye protection for children. Districts
cannot be held responsible for the absence of protective eyewear during physical activity.
--In exciting news, for the first time ever, there will be a H/PE survey that will go to
every school in the state of New Jersey. The principal will sign off on the survey. The
target date is February to be analyzed by end of summer.
--New Federal School Wellness Mandate-Dept. of Agriculture. Addresses
Nutrition/Fitness. Only applies for schools on free/reduced lunch programs. For more
information: JANET RENK, NJ Dept. of Agriculture. 609-984-1169 Cathleen FilippelloBridgewater-Raritan has a copy on her district website for our review. There are many
resources. CDC, NJAHPERD, ASCD, etc.
Compliance is done via an electronic form. In September 2007, there will be a state
wellness policy that will be more vigorous than the federal.
Jim reported out on the collaboration with the Motor Vehicle Commission. Opportunities
are going to become available. The goal is to provide districts with resources for
professional development. MVC has all of the regulatory input. Driver Education is in an
area that has no organized professional development. In our standards there are very few
indicators that address driver education. Laura Groppo discussed how manuals are not
received until after the beginning of the first marking period. Some districts are not
receiving manuals on time. It is a county to county issue.
Todd Training Coordinator (ANSWER)-formerly the Family Life Network, Rutgers
University. Passed out Fall Training Catalog-Sept.-Dec. The blue brochure is what they
can bring to the districts. The Training Institute in Sexual Health Education. “TISHE”
This is a Summer Workshop in West Cornwall, CT. Grant opportunity for middle school
teachers teaching sexual health. It will benefit new teachers in particular.
Nora Gelperin is now the Director of Training.
TODD tslawsky@rci.rutgers.edu, 732-445-7929 ext. 237
Scholarship grant is $850.00. Four grants are available.
Marcie Robinson-Regional Director for the AHA for Youth Market. JRFH/Hoops for
Heart. AHA is a partner with physical educators to provide educational materials. AHA
has brochures and information. Two educational components for elementary K-2, 3-5 and
middle school. Lesson plans, posters, activities and reproducibles on CD-ROM. They are
updated each year and base materials on coordinator feedback. Non-smoking, exercise,
eating healthy. Activity cards for jumping rope are also available with videos and music.
Marcie provided supervisors with examples of her educational material for each grade
level as well as information about JRFH/Hoops. The mission: Reduce Heart Disease and
Stroke. The most frightening statistic is that adults will be living longer than their
children will. Marcie thanked supervisors and districts for their devoted participation.
Fitness Testing: How do we do it?
Dan Brundage: Gave supervisors a handout. They are using
Presidential Fitness Test. Using excel spreadsheet to record data. Website:
www.presidentschallenge.org . Free and fairly easy to use. Awards are extremely costly.
Millburn uses them at the elementary schools. What are done with these results. Are the
scores used as a grading piece? In Millburn, it is simply motivational and not part of a
grading assessment. Millburn tests their children grades 3-12.
Reflections were as follows:
-When test is used as a grade, can you substantiate the validity of a grade given all the
variables involved.
-Grading Rubric is based on a 5 point system that includes daily fitness activity and a
minimum time for the mile.(50th percentile)
-FITNESSGRAM: PACER test as an alternative to the mile. How many PACER laps
equals the mile.
Alice Mokar-Grades 4-12. Grades 1-3 we teach the test. The children love the PACER.
The PACER is taught as a warm up activity. The computer summary requires assistance
by the tech facilitator. The reports provide important data. In early September, all
health/pe students are tested and must bring participatory clothing. At the end of the year,
a post test is done via inside and outside stations. Grading on the physical education card
which serves as a portfolio. On the card, teachers must sign off that they input the scores
on the card. PACER, L/R Flexibility, Trunk Lift, Curl Up. Grading is done also in
Ability, Knowledge, Attitude. BMI scores….what percentage of children are in a healthy
range? Good statistic to have and use both pre and post.
-Many Staff members bring up concerns about BMI for students that are out of range.
Fitnessgram report is very gentle in their approach to BMI. The card is a “snapshot” of a
students performance. One card is K-6 another that goes 7-12.
Handheld computers have been useful but teachers are reluctant to give up their cards. As
long as the data is entered. A suggestion was made to bring in our fitness cards or send
electronically. Copies were made of Alice’s p.e. card grades 7-12. Thanks to Andy Krupa
for Xeroxing the cards.
Joe Locascio: Executive Director: NJAHPERD
He passed out association business cards. Reminder that the office has moved…As of
July 1, 2006: PO BOX 716, Waretown, NJ 08758 Office Phone: 609-971-0522 , Fax:
609-971-0520, 2400 members in NJAHPERD. The association is continuing the grant
program. The association is committed to making applications easy and giving out money
for equipment and conference attendance. Application in FYI and the website. Check the
NJAHPERD website (njahperd.org). Encourage your teachers to apply for these grants.
-SUNDAY NOVEMBER 5, 2006, East Brunswick High School 10:00AM: Conduct
interviews of College Seniors from the five state colleges. Email Joe if you can attend.
-On June 30, 2007, Joe Locascio will be leaving as Executive Director of NJAHPERD.
There is conversation surrounding making it a full time position.
Andy Krupa-Livingston Schools- Fitness Testing: Grades 4-11, experiential activities for
K-3. Presidents Challenge is up to 9th grade. Andy is using secretarial support to report
out on what the results of testing are. Andy showed bar graphs for fitness knowledge and
% scores for president’s challenge by gender. He will be meeting with his staff to discuss
the What? So What? Now What? Andy introduced staff members to discuss their testing.
Middle School testing: Pre/Post assessments. Students are given a description of what the
testing is and what it means. Students are asked to report out on fitness knowledge
through a written test. Cycle of testing is fall/spring. Fitness instruction between testing:
14-15 lessons/unit. Middle School students have journals. The outcome is a personal
fitness plan. The project has a rubric for expectations.
Elementary School-Modification of President’s Challenge in 3rd grade. Grades 4-5 do the
presidents challenge as well as a written test. Fitness is infused in every lesson.
Livingston gives a card to every fourth grader and the parent reviews the data and the
components that each test measures. Patch awards are used at elementary school level.
Sam-6th grade-What is the President’s Challenge? What does it measure? Assessment of
each component. The students will know their strengths/weaknesses.
Livingston HS-Linda- 1st marking period is all fitness and the test is done immediately to
get an initial score. Improvement is stressed. Strength and Flexibility is stressed. In the
spring the post test includes everything is tested with the exception of the mile.
The scoring sheets are used at the high school as well.
Jodi Mensch reported that the sophomore/juniors are testing during quarter three. The
mile is being re-examined. 25% of their skill grade along with a rubric is based on a
standard of fitness. Teachers rotate students from yoga, aerobics, tae-bo, etc. Andy
reports that the literature supports that it is not a good idea to base a grade on a fitness
test. The other questions to come into play is what is nature vs. nurture? What is our
fitness philosophy? What is our grading philosophy?
Jim McCall reports that assessment is not going on in most schools.
Monroe Twp.-Setting students up into a walk/jog in the gymnasium has been helpful. A
rubric for what is considered a jog. Improvement of CRE, having heart-rate in the target
zone. Not based on distance. Students are able to come after school to work out. The
cardio lab has 29 pieces of equipment and has been accessible to students.
North Brunswick Twp.-Debra Serafin-American Obesity Association formula for BMI,
h/w, birthdate study for 424 students. A comparision of BMI of those students vs. the NJ
study. 40% of students were out of healthy range. Teachers were asked to “unpack” the
standards. Deb provided handouts. Polar Tri Fit Health First (site license). YMCA Step
Test to test CRE. Non-invasive for children who are underfit/overweight. Training
students for the mile doesn’t give a fair assessment of their starting point. T-shirts for
physical education. A portion of every class is the improvement of some form of physical
fitness. Fitness is not part of the grade. Effort, Cooperation, Participation are all graded.
Testing will be done twice per year.
Linda Guerrini invites administrators to look at the equipment purchased through the
grant at Parsippany.
Cindy Stockdale from Passaic County Tech.-Project Adventure willing to do a workshop
for Supervisors…information forthcoming.
Mary Mulligan-Peanut Allergies!!!!!!! Problems, issues, suggestions??
Opting out of physical education. “Option 2”. The answer is the NJCCCS. A majority of
schools are saying that they are not providing Option 2. A Board Policy must be in place.
NASPE has a position paper. The bill involved in opt out is frozen at this time.
Generated from an assemblywoman whose son is involved in an out of school swim
program.
Staff development days and activities tabled until the next meeting at NJAHPERD
convention.. Thank you Andy and your staff. KEYNOTE FOR CONVENTION
SHIRLEY HOLT-HALE.
Judy moves to adjourn, Andy seconds.
Respectfully submitted,
Judy LoBianco
Judy LoBianco, Secretary